Previous page  /  next page

Developing Photography:

A History of the Australian Centre for Photography 1973-2013– Toby Meagher, Research Paper–June 2013; Masters in Art Administration at COFA

Chapter Six: 2000s and beyond: Continued Growth

With the success of the refurbishment of the mid-1990s, the Centre had officially moved well beyond the struggles of the earlier decade and bloomed into adulthood. In 1975 the Centre was welcoming 15,000 visitors a year, this had grown to almost 50,000 by the late 2000s. The dramatic increase in the ACP's resonance with the public was due not only to the renovated spaces, but also a revised and professional management structure and a renewed and ambitious exhibition program.

The most significant development for the ACP in 2000 came with the introduction of a new constitution. The move came about from a need to bring the ACP up to date with current constitutional law, but it also allowed the Centre to evolve from one governed by members (which had now grown to 1,191) to one solely governed by the Board of Directors. This decision reflected a Centre which had now successfully transferred from fledgling community photography Centre to a professional and financially sound cultural institution. It also allowed the Centre to better protect its assets under the tighter constraints of corporate law.

By the early 2000s, the ACP was bringing in more then three-quarters of its income from non-Government sources (around 60 per cent from earned income and 15 per cent from sponsorship and in-kind donations - most notably, the favorable mortgage terms offered by the Dobell Foundation). The renewed exhibition program of the late 1990s was showing strong results with visitation rising, from around 13,000 in 1997 to 24,000 by 2000. The ACP began recording in depth information about visitor habits and attitudes, origins of artists represented by the Centre and stringent media monitoring. The attitude had shifted to a more professional outlook on all fronts.

Foster continued the drive for the Centre's growth by submitting, in 2001, a request for increased funding in the ACP's triennial application to the Australia Council for the Arts. That same year, Galleries One and Two both underwent refurbishment, resulting in much-improved exhibition spaces. Photofile had struggled through much of the 1990s. This was mostly due to the predicament of needing increased circulation to draw in more advertising dollars, but at the same time not having the capital to do so.

With a facelift in 1999, the publication was kick started and again began to flourish - increasing revenue by almost 200 per cent in the first year, with continual growth throughout the early 2000s. By 2004, the ACP had secured a significant increase in funding under the implementation of the Government's new Visual Arts and Crafts Strategy (VACS). As that year also marked the 30th year of the ACP, an exhibition entitled Zeitgeist was created to look back on the history of the Centre's exhibitions through a three-month program of events.

Foster's time as Director also saw a renewed enthusiasm for the National focus of the Centre's exhibition program, with three-quarters of the artists shown coming from outside NSW (with a third if those being international). With the help of newly secured funding, the Photofile print run was increased and the magazine was distributed to the wider public in newsagencies nationwide for the first time. As part of these ongoing developments, the gallery spaces were again transformed in 2004.

There was a conscious decision to move away from the traditional modernist 'white cube' to a more 'radical and contemporary' black box (Directors Report, 2004). The move was a reflection of the Centre's focus on innovation and finding a creative edge. Practically, the change also better facilitated the increasing levels of technology used in new-media works.

2005 could be arguably viewed as the most successful year in the history of the ACP. Media monitoring showed that ACP exhibitions and activities generated over $1.25 million worth of media coverage (almost double 2004). The cause of such a dramatic increase in coverage was due, in the most part, to two highly successful exhibitions which took place that year; Trent Parke's Minutes to Midnight and Erwin Olaf s Elegance and Perversity. The shows both attracted record crowds and proved to be two of the top three shows held by the Centre in the past decade.

In December 2005 the tenancy of the ground-floor space came to an end and the decision was made to re-develop the space back into areas for exhibition and public programs. The workshops were also upgraded, to better reflect the digital practices of the 1,100 students working in the ACP annually. This was achieved through a $75,000 grant from the NSW Ministry for the Arts under the Capital Infrastructure Program.

In September 2006, the ACP opened the new 'Gallery 3' in the converted street front space and a central public lounge and reading room, in the closed in courtyard space. The Workshop, Photofile and the exhibition program, all continued to flourish. The Centre's website had steadily grown and been continually updated over the last decade and now filled a very significant role in the operations of the Centre.

The website was drawing almost 200,000 hits annually and brought in annual sales, in excess of $500,000. The focus of the website had allowed for the growth of a strong online community and provided the ACP with a far stronger international voice then it had ever experienced before. By the end of 2006, the Centre also completed its final mortgage payment to the Dobell Foundation, marking a highly significant milestone for the ACP: the ownership of the building it occupied and the land on which the building stands.

An additional gallery was added in 2007 (Gallery 4) and the completion of this space marked the end of the upgrades that had taken place over the previous three years. The increased size of the exhibition spaces allowed for an increase in the overall exhibition activities of the Centre. 21 separate exhibitions were staged across the four galleries that year with almost 30,000 visitors to the galleries.

The Centre's reach was extended again in 2008, recording 46,000 in attendances. The significant profile of the Centre was reflected in its ability to engage with communities across the city of Sydney, regional NSW, interstate and internationally. In 2008, the ACP's contribution was far reaching: collaborating with the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi-Gras and Chinese New Year celebrations, creating partnerships with organisations such as Greenpeace, The Walkley Foundation, Time Magazine and New Scientist Magazine and participation in Head On and Reportage photography festivals.

By the end of the decade the ACP had doubled its attendances from 2006. There was continued growth across the exhibition program (26 exhibitions in 2010) and the workshop (netting gross profits of over $1,000,000). The anomaly was Photofile - in which sales had been falling steadily for the past few years, as a direct result of the rise of digital reading habits and the impact of the global financial crisis, wherein advertising revenue became increasingly difficult to secure.

The prudent decision was made at the end of 2010 to discontinue the print publication, and an interactive, online reincarnation was developed in its place. ACP's online component was drawing in 377,000 visits a year and a digital Photofile would hopefully be able to attract a large proportion of this readership.

In early 2011, Alasdair Foster left the ACP after stewarding the most significant period of growth in the Centre's history. His impact over the 14 years, since he began in 1998, is undoubtedly the most influential of any Director in the Centre's history.

Tim Wilson operated as a consultant in 2011, until Kon Gouriotis began as Director in early 2012. Photofile was re-launched in print version, in March 2013, after existing in digital form since 2010.

In June 2013, The ACP hosted an impromptu exhibition of works that were censored from the Reportage Photography Festival (as a part of the Vivid festival), showing an ongoing focused on maintaining a curatorial edge and avoiding the conservatism that can come with both age and size. Under Gouriotis, the ACP has also developed stronger relationships with education institutions in Sydney.

In particular, the University of New South Wales' College of Fine Arts, which hosted Making Change in July, 2013 as a result of a partnership with the ACP and the National Art Museum of China. Visitations, exhibition, education and communication programs, all continue to grow and the ACP's role a key Sydney-based institution, with a national focus and an international reputation, is self-evident and secure.

Chapter Seven: Conclusion

This research paper is a preliminary exploration of the origins and history of the ACP and its impact on photography in Australia over the last four decades, since its inception in 1973. From a humble practitioner-based initiative, through to a highly significant National cultural institution, the burgeoning of the ACP is a fascinating reflection, on the shifting state of the photographic medium. Over this 40-year history, there have been significant challenges and triumphs that have marked this incredible growth. These challenges and triumphs have been both practical and ideological and a summary of the most pivotal will be provided here.

From a 1970 letter that sparked a dream, David Moore's early thoughts on the state of photography, reflected the sentiment of practitioners around the country. They yearned for photography to be seen as a legitimate medium, worthy of critical discussion, exhibition and publication. The ACP was founded on these ideals and throughout the 1970s the ACP was able to make significant headway for photography - both in terms of legitimizing the medium and broadening its appeal. This was achieved through the active propagation of the growing North-American art-historical narrative and the establishment of a permanent exhibition space, community workshop, library and publishing agenda.

The exhibition schedule allowed for strong representation of Australian photographers and early funding support, from the Visual Arts Board, ensured the continuity of such a program. The ACP played a central role in gaining recognition for photography in Australia, at a time when no art museums were seriously collecting photography and when photographic education was still in its infancy.

The drawback of the American influence was that it called for a blanket adherence to the conceptual ideal of the photography's intrinsic or essential qualities, necessarily stifling the parameters of the medium. The ACP struggled to grapple with this in the early 1980s, its financial situation also suffered and membership support fell as a result. In 1981, the then Director, Christine Godden, oversaw the Centre's move to its current location on Oxford Street, Paddington. By the late 1980s, the Centre began to recover under the guidance of Denise Robinson (1986-92). With a broadened exhibition program, inclusive of the rapid changes taking place in the medium, the ACP was able to widen both its role and appeal, returning it to a financially viable state. The exhibition program also adopted a broader perspective, to ensure the ACP was an institution that held national relevance.

In the mid 1980s, measures were introduced to ensure that there would be 50 per cent representation of artists and women, on the Centre's Board at any given time. The exhibition program began to reflect these changes with a dramatic increase in the representation of women. Over the course of the latter part of the 1980s the ACP, led by Robinson, made a weighty contribution to the expansion of women's practice and an ensured adequate representation of leading female photographers. As the decade drew to a close one of the most significant developments, across all artistic platforms, was the increasing level of activity from minority groups, in particular, those from ethnic and Indigenous backgrounds. The ACP's commitment to contemporary practice ensured it remained at the forefront of these developments.

The rise of Indigenous photography expanded throughout the 1990s. The early exhibitions of Tracey Moffat and Mervyn Bishop, responded to the social and artistic expression of Indigenous issues, that had grown through the 1970s and 80s and proved to shape the ACP's exhibition program over the ensuing decade. The ACP played a pivotal role in establishing an Indigenous voice in Australian photographing by ensuring early and consistent representation of key Indigenous practitioners.

Throughout the 1990s the ACP faced large-scale, practical challenges with the realisation that the Oxford St site was no longer adequate for the Centre's needs. Under Deborah Ely, an ambitious re-refurbishment of the site was envisaged and despite numerous large-scale difficulties, her vision for change ultimately proved to be necessary and successful. The infrastructure changes continued on for almost a decade. Ely had also worked through the Centre's financial difficulties and left the ACP with a secure operating base for the future, both in terms of the building and assured funding sources.

Under the Directorship of Alasdair Foster, the next 13 years saw unprecedented growth. This period can be seen as a coming of age for the ACP. Foster secured significant funding increases, that resulted in dramatically expanded exhibition, education and communication programs. The internal management and constitution were restructured to better reflect an institution of national importance and the overall levels of visitation and engagement increased accordingly. In 2004, the ACP had become a major recipient, under the Government's Visual Arts and Crafts Strategy - these both recognised the ACP's national significance and ensured an ongoing prioritised funding commitment.

By 2011, the ACP had evolved from a 1974 budget of approximately $50,000, to a National Institution with a turnover of over $1.8 million (with Government funding accounting for around 40 per cent of this). The ACP has represented over 1300 artists from across Australia and around the world, since its inception in 1974. Admission to the gallery has always remained free, with accessibility and education, as consistent core commitments of the Centre. The ACP continues to expand and refine programs across the three spheres of Exhibitions, Learning and Publications.

The ACP's history has been a pioneering one and with photo-based art only increasing its reach, the Centre will undoubtedly fill a significant role in Australia's cultural future.

It is difficult to provide quantitative assessment of the ACP's impact, but perhaps the most pertinent measure of its success is found in returning to concerns raised by David Moore's 1970 letter:

1. What is the state of photography in Australia?
2. Is it understood?
3. Is it appreciated?
4. Is there a new 'seeing' amongst younger photographers?
5. Is there a new 'seeing' of our people and our environment?
6. Should photography be i. promoted? ii. championed? iii. collected?
7. Is it an essential part of the country's development?
8. Could it do more?
9. Should it be regarded on a higher plane?
10. Is it necessary to society as a vital human factor
11. What should be done or, in fact, what can be done?
12. Form a discussion group?
13. Collect and mount an exhibition?
14. Merely make a collection with no exhibition?
15. Should we try to involve a gallery? State, National or private?
16. Should we try to sell superb photography to the public?
17. Or have it purchased by a gallery?
18. Or give it to a gallery?
19. Should we try to involve a national newspaper or magazine?
20. Should the philosophy of photography and the meaning of seeing be explained or taught to designers, artists and architects?
21. Is it possible to make a statement that will affect the thinking of art directors, publishers and government organizations?

Over a 40 year history, the ACP has achieved far more then it ever set out to do; by educating and engaging multiple generations of Australians and spearheading the dramatic rise of the photographic medium.

>>>>> next page >>>>>

Intro & Chapter 1   /   Chapters 2 & 3    /   Chapters 4 & 5    /   Chapters 6 & 7   /   bibliography   /  Appendices